01/08/2013
Motorists have been "urged" to go to war on councils who break the law by using parking fees as a massive moneyspinner, says the
Daily Mail.
However, we know that this "rip-off" is just the tip of the iceberg. Local authorities have been highly inventive in taking our money, without the slightest regard for legality, all to fund their entitlement culture and feed the town hall fat cats.
Thus, we do indeed need to go to war â but this must be more than just over parking charges and fines. This is a question of bringing local authorities under democratic control. For a start, this means annual referendums to approve budgets - one of the core demands of The Harrogate Agenda.
There should be no taxation or spending without direct public consent. Until that is the case, it is our duty to make ourselves ungovernable. The big problem, of course, is how we do this ... but it is actually a question of how do you count the ways.
For instance, rather than leave Mrs EU Referendum to the mercies of the bailiffs in my absence, very reluctantly I have paid this year's Council Tax before the bailiffs came to call - they are late this year.
However, the money goes by cheque without account number, stapled to a letter addressed to the office of the chief executive ... minus the liability order fee (which is illegal) and less two pence, just so that the sum doesn't match that on the bill.
Me doing this is a slight irritation. A thousand people doing this is a problem. A hundred thousand people doing this is a crisis. A million people is a revolution. We have within us the power to make things change. All we need to do is use it.
